CoC : Evoken - Embrace the Emptiness : Review

Evoken - _Embrace the Emptiness_
(Elegy, 1998)
by: Alex Cantwell (8.5 out of 10)

Evoken play doom of such crushing magnitude that it takes the listener straight into the depths of sorrow, or something like that. I just can't review a doom album without sounding like an A&R guy from a label, I guess. Like all well composed doom metal CDs, _Embrace the Emptiness_ is grandiose, yet subtle; beautiful, but dark; it's also dreadfully heavy and clocks in at over 70 minutes with just seven songs. Evoken also make use of keyboards quite a bit, creating sombre atmospheres and dark soundscapes as the backdrop to these tales of sorrow and tragedy. The sound is huge, and the rhythms sometimes become bombasts; cannons of war. In the thirteen minute long "Ascend Into the Maelstrom", there is even a guitar solo -- a rarity in doom metal for sure. The vocals are primarily growled, but sometimes a monotone clean vocal style is used. The lyrics are poetic in form; each song being a different path toward sorrow and woe, and although written for fantasy, the emotions are real. The cover says a lot about this CD. Lacking a flashy logo, it is simply a black and white photo of a figure draped in black shroud, knelt before a tombstone in an ancient graveyard of burial mounds, uttering last regrets and grieving.

Contact: Elegy Records, 248 Lakeview Ave., Suite 319

(article published 13/2/1999)

CHATS
12/4/2002	P Azevedo	Evoken: Tending the Dire Hatred

ALBUMS
13/8/2012	J Carbon	7	Evoken - Atra Mors
13/6/2008	Q Kalis	8.5	Evoken - A Caress of the Void
26/4/2005	P Azevedo	9	Evoken - Antithesis of Light
13/3/2001	A McKay	8.5	Evoken - Quietus